2004 Mercury Marauder: the second and final year

Mercury's 2004 Marauder brochure lists a 4.6-liter DOHC 32-valve V8 rated 302 hp and 318 lb-ft, paired with an electronic four-speed automatic as the car's only offered driveline. Wikipedia records 3,214 sales for the year, a figure this record's own overview states as ending a two-year run of 11,052 for the nameplate's modern-era return, and gives production as ending on June 25, 2004 at the St. Thomas, Ontario plant, a date Wikipedia itself sources to an owners' forum rather than to a factory record. This record's own dek frames 2004 directly as the Marauder's second and final model year, closing out the run on this specific 302-hp, four-speed configuration.¹

The 3,214 figure is documented in this record as a sales count rather than a confirmed build count, and this record's own production note states plainly that the underlying table's year basis, calendar or model, is not stated, so the row is carried as reported rather than reclassified onto an assumed basis. This record's own production notes add that no separate model-year build count was found anywhere, and that a color-specific breakdown circulates only in owner-community material, which this record keeps as an unpublished lead rather than as a sourced production row. A further tension is logged directly in this record's own paint note: Wikipedia's own color-specific sales figures for 1,237 Black, 997 Silver Birch, and 980 Dark Toreador Red sum to exactly 3,214, matching the sales total precisely, yet Wikipedia cites no underlying record of its own for that particular three-way split, leaving the coincidence of the sum unexplained by any documented source.¹

The engine is described in this record as a 4.6-liter DOHC 32-valve V8 of 281 cu in with sequential fuel injection, rated 302 hp and 318 lb-ft as factory-advertised output, with this record's own engine entry noting that the ratings' SAE basis is not stated in the brochure itself. It is documented as the only engine offered for the year, paired with the electronic four-speed automatic already named above as the sole transmission, with no manual gearbox, no optional engine displacement, and no alternate axle ratio beyond the standard 3.55:1 limited-slip unit recorded anywhere in this record's sourced material for 2004.

Pricing rests on a single secondary source: Auto123, a Canadian-market article, gives a parenthetical US-dollar range running from $33,770 at the low end to $36,000 at the high end, with no trim or equipment breakdown separating the two figures. This record's own price notes keep both ends of that published range rather than selecting one, since nothing in the source explains what specific content separated a Marauder priced at the bottom of the range from one priced at the top, leaving that roughly $2,230 spread undocumented as to its cause.²

Options recorded for the year include a power moonroof, heated driver and front-passenger seats, a trunk-mounted six-disc CD changer, and a trunk organizer, all listed in the brochure's own interior equipment list as optional rather than standard fitment. Two further items, a rear decklid spoiler and a remote-start system offered in Powercode Bronze, Silver, or Gold trim, are documented specifically as dealer-installed accessories rather than factory options. Two exterior colors beyond Black are recorded, Dark Toreador Red Metallic, noted in this record as new for 2004, and Silver Birch Metallic, alongside two interior leather trims, Dark Charcoal and Light Flint, with no price recorded for any individual option or accessory in this record's sourced material.

Specification detail from the brochure is extensive: a 114.7-inch wheelbase, 212.0-inch overall length, 84.9-inch width including mirrors, a 19.0-gallon fuel tank, a 56.8-inch height, front and rear track of 63.4 and 65.6 inches, a 4,199-lb curb weight as printed, a 10.1:1 compression ratio, and standard BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDWS tires sized P235/50R18 front and P245/55R18 rear on the standard 3.55:1 limited-slip axle already named above. No performance-test data and no vehicle-identification detail were found in an accessible documented source for the 2004 Marauder, so this record's specification picture, while detailed on dimensions and driveline, carries nothing further on measured acceleration, braking, or VIN-decoding information for the nameplate's final model year.